One Good Orange Recipe... and One Not So Good

It's most certainly season for most of the orange foods out there.  This post I will focus on two of the veggies- sweet potatoes, and pumkins.  Although, I do have to say, oranges are beginning to tastes really good, too!  Currently I really can't be pressed to think of any other orange foods, but whatever.  Carrots!  There, thought of one. 

Life is getting really hectic.  I nearly broke my record of not having opened a soup can for over a year now because we have been running so utterly dry on leftovers.  Which is quite a pitty, and I have no clue whawt I will be doing in this next week as far as food goes.  It's a darn hard life!  Why can't I just skip english or something and go home and cook instead?  Much better use of time than reading AE Poe.  Seriously.  I really, really hate Poe right now.  It's Halloween time, so I think my English teacher is trying to get us into the mood for that.  Which is great and all, but not when I just want to go to sleep, and I am left wading through lakes of words that I can't understand half of.

Anyway, now that I am done ranting, on to those lovely sweet potatoes. Oh, just by the way, sweet potatoes have more fiber that white.  I thought that was rather interesting.  The potatoes are really easy to make, and require minimal hands-on time.  And they are rather good too- a nice thing to whip up, and a reaccuring theme in my lunches this week.  Make sure to use fresh sage, because that makes all the difference in the dish.

And the pumpkin salad was rather interesting, to say the least.  If you like pumpkin, than I think this is an excellent dish that would catch your heart instantly.  If not, like I found out was true for me, then I will keep experimenting with different veggies.  It's a really great base, I just didn't like the pumpkin.

Roasted Pumpkin Salad Recipe

Adapted from 101 Vegetarian Cookbooks
Makes 6-8 servings

2 pie pumpkins

fine grain sea salt

15 shallots, peeled

1 ½ cups wild rice

1/4 cup sunflower seeds
¼ cup mirin

2 tbsp miso paste

2 tbsp rice vinegar

Juice of 1 lemon

1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon agave nectar
1/2 cup cilantro, finely chopped

2-3 carrots, peeled and cut into 2 cm lengths

Preheat oven to 375. Cut the pumpkins into quarters-ish and put them on a baking sheet. On another baking sheet put the shallots and carrots. Roast both for about 45 minutes, until tender.

For the rice, boil 1 ½ cups water. Add the rice, and simmer for about 45 minutes, until all the water is gone.

For the dressing, combine remaining ingredients in a large bowl.
When the veggies are done roasting, allow pumpkin to cool, cut off the peel, chop, and add to dressing with the shallots, carrots, and rice. Mix well.

Ricotta Cheese Sweet Potatoes
Serves 6

Adapted from All Recipes

3 medium sweet potatoes
2 shallots, finely chopped
1/2 cup fat-free ricotta cheese

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons chopped fresh sage

Wash the potatoes, poke holes in them, and microwave until tender. Allow to cool enough to handle.

Meanwhile, sauté the shallots until tender, about 5 minutes. Combine with remaining ingredients. When the potatoes are cool, cut open and remove pulp, taking care not to break the skins. Mash the pulp with the ricotta mixture, and refill the potatoes. Heat through either in the oven or microwave.